Senate vote near on regulating electricity

Wednesday

Oct 31, 2007 at 12:01 AMOct 31, 2007 at 11:35 AM

The Ohio Senate is expected to vote today on an amended version of Gov. Ted Strickland's electricity-regulation plan, after Senate committee members made a few final changes yesterday and signed off on the bill.

The Ohio Senate is expected to vote today on an amended version of Gov. Ted Strickland's electricity-regulation plan, after Senate committee members made a few final changes yesterday and signed off on the bill.

The Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee approved a revised version of Strickland's bill that requires utilities to prove they have competition before they can move to market-based pricing, rather than regulator-approved rates, in 2009.

Last week, committee members tweaked that to say utilities must ensure what customers pay in a deregulated system is "comparable" to rates on Jan. 1, 2008. They changed that yesterday to Feb. 1, 2008, to more accurately reflect what someone would pay for power early next year, because bills can come a month after the electricity was used.

Strickland's proposal would require that 25 percent of the electricity used in Ohio come from "advanced" sources by 2025.

Those sources include clean coal, advanced nuclear power and fuel cells, but at least half of that amount must come from sustainable sources, such as solar and wind.

Yesterday's revision would add other sustainable sources, including landfill gas.

The bill also would create an advanced-energy advisory committee to examine timetables, technologies and costs of advanced energy.

Committee members would be appointed by the governor in consultation with the chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.

Strickland says his plan will keep rates from skyrocketing.

Ohio's manufacturers and others have strongly endorsed the plan, while the state's utilities oppose it.